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Reaction - Townsend on Scotland's win over France

Reaction - Townsend on Scotland's win over France

Scotland Head Coach Gregor Townsend reflects on an entertaining game at BT Murrayfield, where tries from Sean Maitland and Chris Harris helped turn things around to defeat France.

His team’s performance.

"I felt in the first 20 minutes we were on our game, but that wasn’t getting shown on the scoreboard.

"It wasn’t a perfect performance, by any stretch. What I was really satisfied with was how the players found a way to win, against the scoreboard, against the opposition that beat them a week ago, the changes and the injuries against a very good French side, but our performance will need to improve a lot over the next few weeks.

"Just now we will think about how the players played and getting the win and seeing what our injuries are and getting ready for a really tough challenge next week."

On the injuries.

"Blade Thomson played very well, he was aggressive in defence and carried well. He made the right decisions, whether it was to carry and set up a ruck or get in behind the defence, he was excellent.

"Hopefully after his HIA, which he failed, doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss any more than that minimum time out the game. We’re hoping he makes a full and quick recovery.

"Tommy [Seymour] failed an HIA too, he got a couple of hits too, so again, like Blade, we hope that the guys recover from their head injuries in good time.

"As a wider issue I think it will be a real challenge for teams to deal with at a World Cup. Normally when you get a calf injury you know the timeline for them coming back, with head injuries you don’t. But as we know people can be out for weeks and months.

"Sam Skinner, out of the three, looks to be more of a serious injury, he suffered a hamstring injury, so fingers crossed for all three players."

On Georgia.

"We’ll look to pick as strong a possible team either next week or the following week, and that’ll depend on how players recover. The goal is to go to Georgia with a strong side, and we’ll have to.

"Going to Georgia will be one of the toughest challenges we’ll face. Just in the context of Georgia wanting to get into the Six Nations, a very good side, playing at home, the travel to get out there and the 50,000 fans behind them.